SIMPLE

The Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees (SIMPLE) is a retirement plan that can be offered by companies with 100 or fewer employees. A key consideration is that the employer generally must match employee contributions up to 3 percent or contribute 2 percent of pay for each employee, whether or not they contribute on their own. The rules are simpler than for other tax-qualified retirement plans. Congress hopes that this will encourage smaller employers to establish plans. For 2013, a self-employed person with no employees could open a SIMPLE and contribute up to $12,000 of self-employment earnings (plus a $2,500 catch-up contribution if he or she is age 50 or older by the end of the year).